As is known, some types of industrial production and processes require working in controlled environments in which the air must be suitably treated with absolute filters so as to ensure the absence of particulate and impurities according to predetermined standards, which vary according to type of classified environment.
Given that staff members and materials must have access to the environments, suitable access filters must be established so as to prevent contamination as much as possible. Hence the need to control the opening of the doors by means of suitable automatic systems.
Rooms intended for the production of pharmaceutical drugs, for example, are kept at positive pressure by special conditioning systems.
Vice versa, environments in which hazardous substances, highly toxic or explosive substances, viruses or bacteria are present, are kept at negative pressure so as to prevent the inside air from coming into contact with the outside air.
When a door is opened, the established standard conditions are inevitably altered.
Hence the solution consisting of arranging suitable access filters, constituted by systems of interlocked doors.
When a door is opened, the other doors connecting the environments in the protected area cannot be opened, thereby creating actual access routes.
When a door is closed again, a locked period varying in duration is sometimes provided to enable the re-establishment of the standard pressure levels.
The control of the sequence of opening the doors and of the conditions enabling the opening thereof is normally carried out by industrial PLCs. These PLCs are complex, costly and redundant machines that are housed in electrical panels located in mechanical rooms.
Owing to the nature of these panels, they must be located in specific installation rooms that conform to current regulations and that are checked and serviced exclusively by skilled personnel.
These panels may be connected only by expert electricians and they involve the laying of large quantities of wiring.
All interventions for the addition or removal of wiring necessarily involve the intervention of skilled personnel.
Moreover, these panels require corresponding software programming, ad hoc and case by case, which must be carried out by skilled programmers. The documents US 2007/227204 A1, WO 00/77330 A1, and US 2008/284579 A1 are known that describe passive systems for detecting parameters representative of premises and the like. Such systems are not capable of receiving commands.
An object of the present invention is to provide a control apparatus for controlling access to premises that is capable of resolving the issues highlighted herein.
A specific object of the present invention is to provide a control apparatus for controlling access to premises that is easy to use even by unskilled personnel.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a control apparatus for controlling access to premises that makes it possible to parameterize the behaviours of an access door to the premises.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a control apparatus for controlling access to premises that is flexible and of universal application.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a control apparatus for controlling access to premises that enables control regardless of the position of the user.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a control apparatus for controlling access to premises that is limited in size compared to apparatuses of the prior art.